License, Registration and Proof of Insurance, Please! Traffic Violator School in California Timothy Karo
Copyright 2013. All rights reserved by Timothy Karo. Book Design/Layout by Kalpart. Visit www.kalpart.com No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information retrieval system, without the permission in writing of the publisher. Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co. 12620 FM 1960, Suite A4-507 Houston TX 77065 www.sbpra.com ISBN: 978-1-63135-213-3
To my son Jon who grew up, since he was 6 helping in Traffic School, first job. Thanks Kid. My daughter Claire, thank you too...and my lovely wife Cheryl whom inspired me to tell the student's stories, even hers "the stop sign".
Table of Contents Introduction 7 How it started 8 It s Just My Ticket 13 Intersection Paranoia? 16 Time Check? 18 What s next? 28 What s the process? 31 The other instances 32 Traffic school in the sunset district 34 Traffic Violator School 38 Back to the registration process 73 It s about what the driver knows 79 This is how we do it 82 Boundaries and Classroom Management 87 Class agenda 90 Lunch 100 The afternoon session 102 Field Trip 108 The end is near 111 Next 116 Routine 120 Change 136
Introduction Sound familiar? License, registration, and proof of insurance, please! It was something the police officer said to us after we went through the red light or when we rolled through the stop sign. We remember the experience as if it were yesterday when, in fact, it was several weeks or months ago. Others seem to remember the bright lights shining in the rear view mirror along with the flashing red lights, or the photo flash as we went through a red light thinking we had plenty of time to make it. I call it the shock value of getting pulled over; others call it a traumatic experience. Once we received the traffic ticket, we dealt with it in order to prevent our license from being suspended, and that s where my story begins, from the start. It s all about driving, something we have to do on a daily basis, the conditions and circumstances in which we drive, and the challenges we experience, such as the problematic drivers. Then it quickly changes; we get a ticket, eventually pay the fine, and go to and complete traffic school. If your anxiety hasn t risen yet, it will, or you might have remembered the experience. If you haven t received a ticket before, this book will help you get an idea as to what you have to look forward to. For those of you who have received a ticket, paid the fines and other multiple fees, in addition to the fine for the infraction, this book is not only about that; it s about the big driving picture, a systemic view of our driving world here in The San Francisco Bay area.. We ve encountered the different types of drivers, and we have read about them in the news. I have enclosed a few articles (usage permission is pending). I have also made note of certain problem areas such as 19 th Avenue in San Francisco as well as the S curve on the Bay Bridge. Hopefully you ll see that getting a ticket, paying the fine, and going to traffic violator school doesn t provide complete closure on the experience. Driving here in the Bay area has a profound impact on our lives and wallets, and what do we have to show for it? Bad roads and court systems that treat traffic offenders like common criminals. Keep reading if this hasn t happened or you already went through it. Hopefully I can give you a bit of insight on what I have been able to do so far. 7
How it started I left the hospital with my friends after a meeting with professional colleagues. I was unfamiliar with the area. I intended to get oriented with my surroundings. At the first intersection I approached, I wasn t sure where I was, My goal was to find El Camino Boulevard in order to head north and find the freeway to get back to San Francisco. I looked right for a brief moment to listen to what one of my passengers was saying, when I suddenly looked up and realized that the traffic light had turned yellow. I accelerated briefly, the light quickly turned red, and a third of my vehicle was barely across the crosswalk. Damn it, I shouted. I think I had just got my picture taken. What happened? asked both of my passengers. I responded by saying, I think I went through a red light, and I believe the camera, which was at this intersection, a video camera that is, took my picture and I should be getting something in the mail shortly. Both of my passengers were quick to respond, Oh that s happened to me before. It s one of the most common ways to receive a moving violation, entering the intersection after the light has turned red, at which time a flash or a video trap is triggered and takes a picture of you, your vehicle, and license plate while you were in your car entering the intersection after the light had turned red. It s a common way to receive a traffic ticket that brings a respectable amount of revenue to the issuing municipality and the vendor who services the camera on behalf of the city it s placed in, in this case City of Menlo Park and County of San Mateo, and, of course, the State of California. Red Light Camera enforcement programs have been around for several years. Counties such as San Mateo, where I currently reside, recently received a rather large grant in order to "get on board" this successful and financially lucrative program. If you ask law enforcement officials it s to reduce accidents; however, it s a revenue stream, according to most city and county administrators and pending legislation will ensure the program will remain only if it's to reduce intersection accidents and collisions. Former state representative Kevin Shelley of San Francisco introduced 8
License, Registration and Proof of Insurance, Please! legislation that created the pilot, which was signed into law by Governor Gray Davis. Within a short time afterwards additional legislation was introduced which doubled the base fine for running a red light, so I would be looking at a $500 plus ticket in the mail any day now. How am I going to pay for this? I wondered. Am I angry? Yes. I was angry at myself. I should have known better and I began to pout, which didn t seem to last too long. Instead of thinking about the potential costs, I thought about how I could turn this to my advantage. I wondered what this must have been like for other drivers, my students. It was beginning to sound familiar. I looked away for a moment; after all the stories I had heard over the years from my students, I was now living their experience, it seemed. Is this an effective tool to get drivers to pay attention, reduce accidents, or a way to help fill up depleted city and county coffers? What the hell was I asking myself this question for? I was pissed and fearful of a big bill and I really didn t want to hear gotcha or get laughed at by friends, family, or loved ones, My own shock needed to settle down so I could proceed through this and deal with what inevitably would happen next. After owning a traffic violator school and providing years of service to hundreds of drivers who either deserved a ticket or didn t realize what they were doing, the thought of becoming a client in a program like this, since I can t attend my own, wasn t sitting too well with me. I found myself replaying over and over again what I had done at the intersection. I turned away for a moment or so, it seemed, and entered the intersection, not realizing the light had turned red, and thought that my picture was taken. I was most definitely shocked for not paying attention the minute I took my eyes off the road and was more interested in what my colleague had to say. I should have known better. K and C, my passengers, wanted to stop for lunch shortly after this incident had happened, and we did. If nothing else, it helped me calm down as well as have a bite to eat. It s not like I m enraged, I said to C after she had mentioned getting a similar ticket herself. It just happens. I don t drive, said K, so I don t have to worry about this kind of stuff. You re a big help, I replied. When we finally returned to the office, I told a few co-workers. One of them laughed and said, I guess you aren t the perfect driver after all, and proceeded to ask, Where did this happen? 9
Timothy Karo I told him we were on Willow Road heading towards the El Camino. I took a right off of Willow, and then, as I was heading north, I made a left at the next light, saw the camera above, turned and looked at Carmen, since she was saying something, looked back, saw that the light was yellow, and I punched it to get further into the intersection. Then the yellow turned red. Game over, or so it seemed. KC, another co-worker who overheard my conversation, and who had spent considerable time living and working in the Menlo Park area, said, I think I know where that light is. That part of Menlo Park has cameras as well as video traps on many lights. They seem to be targeting the commuters leaving the train station, as well as the high school kids leaving Menlo Atherton High School. It s a well-traveled area if it s where I think it is. I have had similar tickets, he added, and as he was walking away, his comment, there goes your perfect driving record didn t sit too well with me. Perfect driving record, I thought. It s been over twenty years since my last ticket? What s different? Just the environment we drive in, the importance of being careful, especially after narrowly avoiding a head-on collision in a blinding sandstorm outside Tucson Arizona in the summer before my freshman year in college. Driving and being careful seem to be roommates when I get behind the wheel. At least I know what to expect, I thought. I m aware of what I did. There aren t any real surprises since I will be expecting something in the mail, a picture of me and my car going through a red light. So the question is this: do I share this experience with my students when I teach my next class or do I have them embellish their experiences with regard to receiving this kind of ticket? How can I take advantage of this opportunity? I decided I was going to go home, sleep on it, and disclose this to specific individuals, kids, friends, and my significant other, who hopefully won t laugh. Or I could write a book about it. That is to say, I could get real with the traffic ticket, going to court and traffic school, and I could write about it from an occupational perspective. I couldn t call myself a sacrificial lamb, a victim of the system? Telling the story on behalf of everyone else who has gone through this seemed to be the way to go. *** The more I thought about writing a book, the more I liked the idea. I had to have a starting place, though. I guess I could continue with my experience so far. Even though it s been a week since this experience occurred, I really haven t thought of anything else. I remember my students on different occasions had told me how it takes a few weeks for the actual ticket in the mail to show up, in spite of being aware of what they had done. The agony is the wait and sharing the information with family, loved ones, etc. 10
License, Registration and Proof of Insurance, Please! Then again, some wives didn t share the information with their husbands and vice versa. The teenagers would share the info with their parents, and it became one of life s lessons. They would pay the fine off in chores if they weren t working or had an income stream. So what did I end up doing? I called my son at home each day, for the past five days, around the same time, 4:30-4:45, and asked him about the mail. I said, Did I get anything in the mail from The City of Menlo Park or San Mateo County Court? I know he ll figure it out, I thought. I will tell him the next time I see him. My ego most definitely got in the way. I was caught by technology as opposed to a regular human being, and it s been a twenty-five-year run without getting a ticket a pretty good string of luck, other than a few close calls. I eventually told my son, after he got tired of getting the same phone calls asking the same thing. I remember his words: Why do you keep calling and asking me the same thing, nearly at the same time five days a week? What the hell did you do, Dad? So I told him what happened and realized my ego is my worst enemy. He didn t think twice about it, other than wanting to know details. Once I told my son, as well as those who are near and dear, about this experience, I was expecting to hear some ridicule, friendly in nature, if nothing else. It didn t happen. It began to get real. This can be potentially expensive and this is a prime opportunity to tell my story, as well as my students stories and experiences. *** I continued to check the mail daily; my son was now instructed to do the same. There was one instance he called, left me a message, said call him back regarding the mail, and I thought, Patience is one thing, but don t leave me hanging. It was a check for something not even related to the experience. He meant well; it was money, and I just needed to relax. How could I best use this time to my advantage? Then it came to me. A few years ago I started a manuscript about getting a ticket and going through traffic school, so I now had a basis to begin writing. I think it s called a re-write. I could build on what I didn t complete and use both of my experiences that is, waiting for a ticket in the mail and being a provider of this service to those who do receive a ticket and have to attend school. It could make for an interesting perspective, if I did it right. *** When I wrote the manuscript, it didn t get anywhere. This is my third re-write and hopefully this will be a charm. Step one, the beginning. This is about me going through a camera-enforced red light. This experience, I 11
Timothy Karo would imagine, is going to be costly. Why not make it positive in order for everyone, including myself, to benefit from it? I can deduct my expenses in spite of everything else. Whoever reads this book, I m hoping they can benefit from it; my goal is to make it real. *** The demands of driving have certainly become more difficult in the past twenty years. For that matter, it seems that we, as drivers, can easily get distracted, and the likelihood of taking our eyes off the road just for a second and believing that nothing bad will happen is the biggest piece of false security we take with us when we get behind the wheel. Cars, technology, our electronic devices, as well as our current attitudes have a lot to do with distraction. So cameras at red lights have a lot to do with forcing us to change what we do behind the wheel, especially when we go through intersections. The section in the California vehicle code is section 210 (Automated Enforcement System). Now I quote directly from the California Vehicle Code: 210. An automated enforcement system is any system operated by a governmental agency, in cooperation with a law enforcement agency, that photographically records a driver's responses to a rail or rail transit signal or crossing gate, or both, or to an official traffic control signal described in Section 21450, and is designed to obtain a clear photograph of a vehicle's license plate and the driver of the vehicle. Buy the B&N e-pub version at:- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/license-registration-pro of-of-insurance-please-timothy-karo/1119504446 Buy the Kindle version at:- http://www.amazon.com/license-registration-proof-insura nce-please-ebook/dp/b00kctovrc/